Nonevent
by Cogtio Ergo Sum
Summary: Oreki managed to stumble into quite the mess this time. Now finding himself juggling school, the club, Chitanda's curiosity, and... a murder investigation? What's an energy conservationist to do?
1. Chapter 1

"I'm curious!" The unofficial catchphrase of one Chitanda Eru echoed throughout the mostly empty room belonging to the current Classics Club. On the receiving end of this outburst, Oreki Houtarou bristled at the rather passive aggressive onslaught. Sighing in defeat, he backed away from the glittering eyes that currently captured seventy percent of his field of vision due to their proximity. He heard Satoshi and Ibara snicker to his left, he grumbled silently feeling as if doing otherwise would only waste energy.

Holding out his hand expectantly, Chitanda perked up considerably and rushed into her school bag to retrieve a single piece of paper. Handing it to him, he promptly sat down and studied the sheet. It was nothing of the sort that would have attracted his attention but he realized that the words written on it must have been like a beacon for Chitanda. Succumbing to the inevitable he scanned the paper.

It read:

This may not be

UUUU

C

Yourself

Yourself

Yourself

Yourself

If you

STAND

YOU

this, then this is a

Mary

+Mary

Of what we do.

RoMeetOm

321

Most certainly, this was a rather odd message to be found lying around the halls. Unless, of course, it wasn't. In any case, he'd have to decipher the code before he decided exactly how abnormal the paper was.

"Where did you say you found this Chitanda-san?" Oreki heard Satoshi ask and then quickly realized that the boy was leaning over his shoulder to look at the object of conversation.

The ever helpful Chitanda answered with a quick, "On the floor by the recycling bin" and afterwards Oreki diverted his attention back to the riddle. He figured if it was found by the recycling bin then in must have been intended to be thrown away. He wondered if possibly it was just a note, passed between another student, which had served its purpose and was thrown out. However, he knew that answer would neither satisfy Chitanda nor what he initially set out to do. In any case, figuring out what the note meant would most likely reveal its reason for existing.

"It's some kind of code," Ibara mused behind him to the left of Satoshi. Oreki found that much obvious, however, he wanted to know what the rest of the group thought before he began speculating so he listened to their theories.

"It looks like word puzzles to me." Chitanda said, "I'm just not sure how to solve them." Oreki waited for Satoshi to say what he, as the database, formed from the evidence so far.

Far from disappointed, Satoshi piped up, "Ah! They're Rebus puzzles!" He exclaimed. Taking the prodding silence as a sign he should continue he added, "They're like word puzzles that you solve based on how the words are arranged." Satoshi looked back down at the paper and read from the top "Let's see… the first line 'This may not be', is exactly as it is, next is…" he paused, the room was silent for a couple beats before Oreki spoke up.

The front tufts of hair firmly grasped in his hand he murmured, "'right for you'" He began working down the list systematically solving each of the puzzles which ended up being quite obvious once he understood the method to solving them, but then again, that's how everything worked.

"How do you figure that, Oreki?" Ibara asked breaking his train of thought. Oreki groaned removing his hand from his hair and resting it back on the table. He tapped a haphazard beat on to the wooden surface and turned to face the girl in question.

"The 'U's' are all the way on the right side of the page, there are four of them and 'U' is to the right, 'right four U'." He explained, "They're about how the words are positioned, remember, so it's significant that it's way on the far side of the page."

"'This may not be right for you'. Do they mean the note?" Chitanda queried, a dainty finger coming up to tap her chin in thought.

Oreki shrugged and continued on, "the 'C' and each 'yourself' are mostly centered so it probably isn't anything to do with where the words are on the page, but again there's more than just one since there are so many of 'yourself' so that's also important."

"Hmm there's four of them." Satoshi said, understanding the system, "four 'yourself' or I guess 'see for yourself'!" He shared. Oreki nodded in acceptance.

"The next one is easy," Oreki continued their momentum, "it's 'if you understand', the 'YOU' is under the 'STAND'."

Quietly, Ibara read aloud all that they had decoded so far, "This may not be right for you, see for yourself, if you understand this, then this is a". She ended abruptly and began thinking of what the next answer could be.

Unconsciously grabbing the same spot on his bangs, Oreki began to break the puzzle down into its pieces, _"There is 'Mary' written twice. It's written as an addition problem. The answer is blank. Mary plus Mary._ He thought trying to find the trick in the words. "The sum of Mary." He muttered quietly, "It's the sum of Mary, or rather 'the summary'."

"'This is the summary of what we do'," Chitanda read, "So these people must write or solve puzzles!" she offered. Oreki agreed and quickly confirmed it by reading of the last line.

"'Meet in room 321' since the word 'meet' is in the word 'room'. It must be some type of club."

"But then, why was it being thrown out?" Satoshi pondered, "Do you think the person reading it got frustrated and gave up by tossing it?"

Oreki shook his head, "Look at it, it's not crinkled at all," he gestured to the paper which indeed looked as if it had just been fresh out of the printer. "Also, why would they throw it in the recyclable bin? If they were really frustrated they wouldn't have went out of their way to go find something other than the trashcan."

"Maybe it was an accident," Ibara said, "It could have been hanging above the bin and fallen down sometime throughout the day which is also why it was on the floor."

"But there are no pin holes from where it could have been pinned to a bulletin board and there's no tape residue either." Oreki explained. "Chitanda-san," he then called, gaining said girl's attention, "You only saw one of these right? There were none in the bin or hanging up anywhere else were there?" He asked her, knowing that she would definitely remember such details as was in her nature.

She shook her head, "No this was the only one, why Oreki-san? Did you figure it out?" He question did little to hide her excitement.

Oreki only replied back with, "Maybe…" He paused collecting his thoughts, "Why would a club only print one copy of their notice? Wouldn't they want more than that to help get the word out better?" He asked, pointing out what was wrong about the scenario.

"Maybe it got separated from the other ones?" theorized Satoshi. Oreki nodded his head in agreement.

He let loose a quick sigh and then began to share his findings, "That's what I thought too. Then I noticed something else odd about this flyer." He gestured to the notice, "look, there's nothing else on here but the club's message. Think about it, what do all flyers that get hung up at school have in common?" He asked the group.

There was a short stretch of silence where each of the other occupants racked their brains for an answer until "A stamp!" Ibara proclaimed, "Every flyer hung up on the school's boards needs the student council's stamp of approval!"

"That's right," Chitanda agreed in realization, "but this one doesn't have it? Is that the reason it got taken down?" She asked.

"No, it was never hung up, none of these flyers have been and that's why we haven't seen them yet." Oreki began explaining. "This might be the only one we see but there are probably more."

"Really? Where are they?" Ibara questioned picking up the paper and examining it herself as if the answer would come to her that way.

Oreki expected that question and had his reply ready, "They're in the student council room, probably getting stamped so they can be hung up tomorrow." He allowed himself a breath before continuing, "The flyers must've been made today and on their way to deliver them to get approved one of them slid off the stack and landed where Chitanda-san found it. The recyclable bin isn't far from the door so it could have easily fallen while the student was walking out of class today."

He finished and then turned to face those ever curious violet eyes, "Chitanda-san, is there anyone you know in your class who is really into puzzles and word games?" he questioned her, "That is most likely the person who is advertising the club."

The girl thought for a couple of seconds before coming up with a possibility, "Yoshida-san is always carrying around a Sudoku book and I think I've heard her talking about the weekly crosswords, it must be her!" She smiled happily at the discovery.

Sensing the mystery had been solved to "Chitanda standards", Oreki took the flyer that was lying on the desk and handed it back to her. He let out a deep sigh showing the small bit of irritation for having to work out the puzzle in the first place and then rested his cheek against his palm.

Eyes shut trying to recover some of his lost energy he heard Chitanda express a soft but sincere "Thank you, Oreki-san." He didn't even have to open his eyes to know that she must have stood there with sparkling eyes and a lightly dusted blush, instead he allowed the tiniest of smiles to slip onto his face before letting the Classics Club slip back into a far more energy conservationist friendly environment.

It was bordering on evening and the club room was soaked with the orange glow provided by the sunset. Oreki and Chitanda were the last club members left as Satoshi and Ibara had left half an hour previously. Both sensing that now was a good time to head home they quickly gathered their things and headed for the exit.

On the walk home, the sun was on a steady decline as the pair approached the diverging path. Chitanda bid him farewell while Oreki offered up a slight wave, not feeling the energy to muster up a more suitable goodbye. He walked onwards instead, down the path so ingrained in his memory by now he knew the most optimal corners to cut and a backways to go down.

It was on one of these very same back ways that he was now currently trekking through. Knowing from experience the alleyway pass was a little hidden (and thus far less used as indicated by its rather unbecoming appearance) it still served to cut his walking time by at least three minutes. It was by far worth having to smell the dumpster trash for an easy shortcut home.

In hindsight, he should have noticed right away that the typical dumpster smell was far, far different than usual. In fact, how the scent didn't immediately sendoff warning bells in his mind was a difficult thing for Oreki to believe after the fact.

It just so happened that he remained blissfully unaware of his predicament until he quite literally fell into the mess. Tripping on a decidedly hidden pothole in the darkness trapped in between the brick walls, he didn't notice where he was heading until he'd already fallen. The sounds that invaded his ears were the first thing he discerned. Eye scrunched up in pain the sound came back to him with a sickening splat that sounded as if he'd landed in a puddle. The fact that it hadn't rained in three days didn't seem to matter either, he'd definitely landed in liquid.

The dark alleyway nearly blocked out all the sunlight, especially with the sun sitting on the horizon rather than at its zenith. However, none of that mattered, for when Oreki sat up he was finally graced with the presence of his returning senses.

The smell was like nothing he'd ever had the misfortune of experiencing. Thick copper like bitterness mingled with the salty scent of sweat and Oreki knew by then that this was no ordinary puddle he'd fallen into.

If the odor was bad however, it was by far ignored by the much worse feeling of the sticky serum trailing down his arms and legs, some even weaving its path through his hair. He cringed at the realization that this was far too big of a puddle.

Finally opening his eyes, but feeling an overwhelmingly hesitance to do so, he allowed all his senses to work as team. The first thing he notice was that this current place of residence was a darkening scarlet pool. He lifted his hand out of it and confirmed for certain that this substance running through his fingers was blood. Somebody else's blood. And a lot of it. Before the thought sunk in, he continued to sit there, unable to process exactly what the situation he was in really meant. The ease of putting together information that once gifted his brain seemed to have taken a vacation.

It wasn't until the rather human shaped lump made it into his line of sight that he finally snapped out of his daze. Quickly getting up, nearly slipping in the pool of scarlet, (much too dark a color, he mused in a detached manor) Oreki clumsily rushed toward to the figure. Once he was close enough to make out the detailed features he realized it was a girl. Ignoring anything else he might observe in favor of checking her pulse he quickly reached an arm forward. His hand brushed along her neck, fumbling a bit with the placement out of sheer inexperience. He waited with baited breath, thinking that maybe his hand just wasn't in the right place.

Moving it up and down a couple more times, pressing his fingers desperately against the woman's neck, inevitably he came to the conclusion in abject revulsion. A conclusion that he knew all along, from the moment the pungent odor invaded his nose. This woman was dead.

He wasn't quite certain how to react, in fact he was almost certain that the emotional part of his brain had yet to catch up to the rational side. That aside, he still knew what he had to do. Pulling out his cellphone, not caring about the blood that was seeping its way into the electronics crevices, he dialed the police.

It rang only once until the sound of an urgent yet not unkind voice fill his ears, "110 what's your emergency?" It was phrased like a question but spoken like a demand.

Oreki only wasted a second to inhale a breath before answering, "There's been a murder."

* * *

 **A/N:** So this is just a little something I cooked up. Yes I realize the Rebus puzzle is kinda lame but really the little mysteries that the anime focuses on isn't what I wanted to write about. That aside, I just wanted to post this to see what kind of reception it got, I can't say I'm really going to dedicate myself to it all the much because, well, I'm pretty much traveling around all summer but I will write when I can.


	2. Chapter 2

The emergency phone call had been a short and simple transfer of information, the first being him giving his current whereabouts and the next was her assuring him the police were on their way. It wasn't long after that Oreki found himself at a loss, he stood for a few unexplainable moments simply staring off in whichever direction wasn't the current residence of a corpse.

As it turned out, that still wasn't getting him to where he needed to be, the feeling that something was off still remained. He wasn't sure if it was the shock of literally stumbling onto a crime scene or something else, but there was a niggling of unease quickly making itself known throughout his conscious.

Idly, he wondered when exactly the shock would set in because for as much as he thought he should be feeling at the moment, he was feeling nothing of the sort which was only mildly concerning. He let his body move on its own accord, taking a hesitant step forward, he approached the body he was desperately clutching early. He had finally blocked the stench out enough to concentrate and the sight, surprisingly, had become something he'd grown accustomed to, for now that is.

The first thing his gaze seemed to notice was the condition of her clothing. She was dressed in a pant suit, something that fit her nicely or at least would have if there weren't obvious signs of disruption. Aside from her rumpled looking clothing, it otherwise was in good condition: no rips, free of any mud or dirt, even lacking any sign of the usual wear and tear.

The place he looked next was her hands, she wasn't wearing any jewelry, wedding ring included, but she did have a watch sitting snugly on her left wrist. His eyes automatically drifted to the rather obvious gash that was only a few inches above said wrist. He quickly realized that this was the cause for all the blood, along with the abrasion along her neck, and two deep trails along her legs. It was strange, Oreki thought, that the killer seemed to want to drain the blood out of this women.

He was only so far into his observation when he was interrupted by the sounds of sirens quickly nearing his position. Figuring it would be best to meet the police at the mouth of the alleyway, he neared the opening where the lasts of the sun's light drifted in.

Waiting mere minutes, Oreki was soon surrounded by police officers. His stomach twisted in knots, making him feel as if he'd done something wrong with the way the police were hounding on him. However, he answered them nonetheless, leading them to where he found the woman.

The crime scene investigators lived up to their title, making quick work of taping up the scene and scouring for any relevant information. Oreki found himself being one of those very same sources of information, as one of the investigators pulled him to the side in order to question him.

"Hello, I'm Inspector Kanai Akio, you're the one who found the victim?" He questioned, his voice terse but only in the sense of wanting to get this business out of the way as quickly as possible.

Oreki nodded his head in conformation, "Un… I tripped into a puddle of blood." Now that he said it out loud, it sounded quite horrifying. The inspector looked at him in concern, seemingly just now seeing the clothes that had a rather telling red tint to them. He shrugged off the gaze and said, "It's nice to meet you Kanai-keibu, my name is Oreki Houtarou." The short greeting did little to clear the rather tense air surrounding the two.

Kanai continued on anyways, "Did you happen to know this women?" The question seemed unnecessary in Oreki's opinion because if he _had_ known her he probably wouldn't have been as calm as he currently was.

He answered anyways with a quick negative, wanting to leave probably as much, if not more so, than the Inspector wanted him gone. The obligatory stream of questions that came next was easily answered with a quick 'yes' or 'no', he didn't even notice when his attention became divided. Rather than listen to Kanai fully he found himself eavesdropping on the other investigators, or to be more specific, the two currently draped over the body.

"No wallet or identification…" One of them said, brows knitted up in discontent. The other looked up at him, his eyes asking the question before his words did.

"Possible robbery gone wrong then, there's no sign of a purse either." In light of his present situation Oreki really shouldn't have felt the need to get himself more deeply involved however, it seemed Chitanda was rubbing off on him.

In any case, before he even considered the consequences, his voice found its stride, "Her watch." He said to the two, not realizing he'd completely ignored whatever question the inspector had relayed to him. The two- much younger- he noted, officers gave him a cursory glance before lifting the sleeve to reveal the golden watch stained with rivulets of blood. "If this had been a robbery that expensive looking watch probably wouldn't have been ignored. Most likely the culprit didn't want you to discover her identity, the question is though, why?" The last bit he mused out loud to himself, he hadn't really notice he'd been thinking out loud until a cough interrupted his stream of thoughts.

Having heard the inspector cough he quickly snapped his head up from where it had tilted down as he thought. He then moved his eyes to the two other police officers, one considering the idea while the other simply glared in his direction. Oreki gave a half shrug muttering, more to himself, "A robbery gone wrong doesn't leave wounds like that either…" and then ignored both in favor for returning to Kanai's question.

Oreki's outburst was almost all but forgotten by the time the questioning was nearing it's an end, however just as he was about to be released he heard a deduction that made his brain spin with counter theories.

"Mid-thirties, probably," The police who was glaring at him earlier said, "she not married either, I guess that narrows it down a little to who she could be, not much though." The other police looked thoughtful and then stood up, recording his finding in his notebook.

Sensing that he was being extremely inappropriate but feeling the need to say something anyways, Oreki once again spoke up, "Ano… She is probably more around the age of forty-five." He said, a bit more hesitantly than the last time he shared his thoughts.

Kanai quirked an eyebrow, "What makes you say that?" He asked, more skeptical than curious.

Oreki shrugged and sidled up to the body. Although the light had long since abandoned them, the police had set up large lights that illuminated the place as if it were still daytime. Oreki glanced at the woman before him and then began, "Look at her clothes, they are- bloodstains aside- extremely well kept. Her nails are perfectly manicured and her hair has been dyed, as we can all see, but she keeps up regularly with the upkeep. She has on a fair amount makeup and rather flashy looking earrings. This is a person who cares a great deal about her appearance." He told them.

"Ah okay? What's that say about her age?" The officer who was writing much of this down in his notebook asked.

Oreki gave him a glance, sensing that the officer was the only person who was truly taking him seriously without a second thought. He then looked back to the inspector, "A lot actually, a woman who cares so much about how she looks is bound to do something about her skin to make her look younger." He wasn't sure if he was out of his element here but he said so anyways, "check in front of her ears, there should be at least some light scarring there from plastic surgery."

The eager office did as he was told and lifted up the woman's hair he checked for a couple of seconds before his head popped up stunned, "He's right!" checking the other side just in case the officer nodded his head in confirmation, "There's two scars in front of her ears." He announced to the others. "How did you know they'd be there?"

"Her hands," the inspector said, answering in Oreki's place, "Compared to the state of her face, they look considerably older." He gestured to the wrinkled hands. The officer nodded in agreement. Oreki found himself wondering if Kanai knew about the age all along and was only curious as to what Oreki thought of it too.

Feeling rather confident now, he let himself continue to stew on what he was given. "I'm sure her current employment can be figured out as well." He spoke, gabbing the hair dangling near his eyes.

"She has perfectly manicured nails but refrains from wearing any rings or bracelets even though she has on a necklace and heavy gaudy looking earrings. A watch is alright though, probably because it's actually useful and worth occasionally getting in the way. That means she most likely has a job where she uses her hands a lot but not the type that would chip her nail polish and it's more easily done without any obstructions but can still be worked around." His voice drifted throughout the small alleyway, no one wanted to interrupt him but they were also unsure how exactly to react to his deduction show.

Oreki, for his part, ignored all the strange looks he was getting and instead asked, "Does she have any scars on her hand or maybe blisters, Keiji-san?" He asked, addressing the officer that was really the most helpful of the bunch. Living up to Oreki's expectations, the man searched her hands, coming up with nothing.

Oreki didn't let his disappointment show, instead he only narrowed his eyes further. He then began thinking, not sure what other jobs required skillful hands. Feeling as if that didn't narrow things down as much as he wanted it to, he took another look at the body. He wouldn't exactly say she was skinny, more of a plump figure, most likely she didn't do anything too strenuous. Considering what she was wearing it was probably something more clerical than a job that could get her hands messy.

He was half tempted to start pacing but then realized how much of a waste energy that would be, rather than do so he asked, "There was nothing in her pockets?" Another officer, this time, supplied his answer by handing over an evidence bag. The paper itself seemed to clarify any doubts he had once he glanced at it.

On it was as fair amount of rows each with a set of two letters stacked together then a space and the same thing repeated only with a different group of letters. Oreki was reminded of the puzzle he had solved on paper earlier that day and laughed at how this one was so much easier. Granted, it wasn't really meant to be a puzzle in the first place. Still however, he gave the C,D group a quick look, finding it odd she'd place those two together, then he realized that this probably wasn't meant to sound like anything special, mostly it would've been some type of practice.

"She's a piano instructor," he told them, "these two rows of letter are chords, and each is grouped with another because piano uses both the bass and treble clef. Also, she doesn't have any callouses from playing a string instrument like say, the harp that also uses both clefs. She's wearing lipstick as well which means it's not any type of horn or brass instrument, the most likely candidate is piano in that case." The group of officers faces ranged from annoyed to maybe a slight hint of awe as he continued, "You can tell she's an instructor because these chords wouldn't really sound like anything when played. Instead they're more likely chords she found her student needed practice with, which also explains why it isn't written out on a music sheet instead."

"Furthermore," he continued, "she came to this pass way on her own, if I'm not mistaken, there was no sign she was knocked unconscious beforehand and moved was there, Keiji-san?" He asked the friendly officer.

The man considered him, "There was nothing like a hit to the head and there's no sign that any type of drug or sedative was used, however, the medical examiner will be the one to say so for sure." He said thoughtfully.

Oreki figured the answer he'd get would be along those lines, "If we go off the basis that she came her on her own accord, she must have died here if all this blood is any indication, then her place of business probably isn't far from here. Neither is her house, both were in walking distance." He paused, content with what he'd come up with thus far, "I suppose that narrows it down a bit more." He said as an afterthought.

Oreki didn't mind looking at someone to figure this type of information out, what he did mind, however, was looking at a dead body and figuring how it got that way. He didn't have extensive knowledge in way of human physiology, not enough to be able to declare when or how she died (though it seemed obvious it was blood loss). Instead he would let the police handle that job, he really shouldn't have butted in to begin with but for some reason that uneasy feeling seemed to disperse as he delved deeper into understanding the scene before him. He realized quickly that this possibly meant he _wanted_ to investigate, that he felt better after doing so and anxious when he didn't.

Above all, he was silently cursing Chitanda, knowing somehow this was all her fault.

* * *

 **A/N:** So there's that... no promises on updates anytime soon, I just got back and am leaving tomorrow, busy bee. Anyways, I just want to point out that I'm not really a fan of OCs, however... there really isn't another way to go about this type of story without any so naturally, since the police kind of play a decently large role, I have to make up some of my own characters, just bear with me. If anyone has ever seen Detective Conan most of my inspiration comes from that (I love Takagi) and you will probably notice. Okay done!

Thanks for reading ;)


	3. Chapter 3

The prospect of a shower had never seemed so enticing. He managed to gain an escort home by the police after he gave them his personal information in case they ever had it in them to call him up someday. Oreki scoffed at the idea. They had been slightly hesitant to not contact his parents but he assured them that it wouldn't be a problem, they were busy people after all and frankly he didn't feel like explaining the situation to anyone anyways. All he wanted was to get the—now dried—blood off his person and then sleep for the next week.

That being said, Oreki's first destination was the bathroom. He imagined his shower was longer than any that had come before it. It was one that was perhaps too hot and where he scrubbed just a bit too harsh. He paid these sensations no mind, rather, he just wanted to be clean.

By the time he was finished he wasn't sure what to do with himself. A glance at the clock told him it was late, past midnight, and dinner was out of the question. Regardless of the time he didn't have the appetite to stomach a meal anyways.

Despite his earlier thoughts on the subject, when actually faced with the opportunity, sleep was hard to come by. His eyes captured the plain ceiling for yet another drawn out minute, a frustrating sight as it meant unconsciousness had yet to claim him. Now it seemed as if the uneasy feeling before had come back with a vengeance. His mind was in a whirl yet it was a sluggish one, as he was too tired to really dedicate effort into his thoughts but his brain was too full of thoughts to be reined in by the call of slumber. It was not a fun situation to be drawn into seeing as there wasn't much he could do but wait, with thinning patience, for sleep to find its way to him.

When morning came, Oreki was tired, which is not to say that he ever _wasn't_ tired, but this time it was a special case. The little amount of sleep he had managed was far from being up to par, it was irritating but inevitable. He started his morning with the zombie-like trudge that defined his enthusiasm for the prospect of school, or rather, lack thereof. The walk there was uneventful, to which he was thankful, too many more "events" and it was likely he'd just lock himself up in his house for a week's worth of energy renewal.

Plopping into his desk, his eyes flew vaguely to the window. It was a sunny day, much like the one before it, he mused, and yet, so very different all the same. Satoshi was attempting to gain his attention, Oreki ignored him for the first couple of not-so-subtle advancements. His eye twitched in irritation when Satoshi began blowing in his ear, he abandoned the futile endeavor and let his eyes bore uninterested into Satoshi's. His friend then began to ramble about this and that, Oreki listened with half an ear.

Walking up to the Classics Club that afternoon, he made a silent prayer that there were no little mysteries he'd have to solve today, quite frankly he wasn't feeling up to the task. An hour later his wishful thinking was rewarded, it was apparent that neither Chitanda nor any of the other members had a mysterious happening that needed investigating. Although, that wasn't exactly true, Oreki had a mystery of his own to solve and it had been at the forefront of his mind all day.

He wanted to know who that woman was. Questions flew through his mind: why did someone kill her? Was it revenge? Was it random? Maybe she was involved in some shady business. Whichever way he twisted it, he still hadn't gotten any further to unraveling the mystery.

It wasn't long until Chitanda left, leaving Oreki and Satoshi alone as Ibara was helping out the librarian again. Oreki made the suggestion they go visit her which Satoshi was happy to do. In the library he greeted Ibara but let Satoshi be the one to hold the conversation with her, slipping away, he ambled over to the newspaper collection. A thought struck him that is was possible he could at least attempt to narrow down the options.

He went three months back before his absence was realized by his two friends. They approached him, Ibara querying, "What are you doing over there?" He ignored her in favor of finishing up scanning the page he was on.

A sigh escaped him, "Nothing, just got bored." He told the two, they seemed to buy it, though Ibara looked insulted that he found conversing with her dull. All the same, Oreki was a bit upset to know that only two other murders took place within the last three months, one being an angry revenge-seeking wife and the other and _actual_ robbery gone wrong. Even though he should have been glad about the fact that there wasn't a crazed serial killer on the loose (that he knew of that is… he supposed there could be one lurking around), he would definitely have had more to work with if there was.

The subsequent exchange that transpired next wasn't even worth faking the courtesy of listening. Oreki much preferred this time to stew on his findings, or lack of. He supposed that the absence of information was information in itself; this death wasn't connected to any recent murders, that much was certain.

He began to brainstorm ways of gathering more information: finding where she worked, people she knew, retracing her steps the day she was killed. All of them seemed like they would bear fruit. Long minutes stretched and it wasn't until Oreki realized that this wasn't his investigation and that he should keep his nose out of it that he shook himself from his daze. He nodded mentally, quickly pushing the ideas that rushed into his brain away. He gave a silent promise that he'd leave the matter alone.

On his way home that day, he took a different route, it wasn't really to his house, per se, but it wasn't too far out of the way, a small detour really. He'd suddenly become very interested in learning how to play the piano. It was only a harmless curiosity in a new hobby, nothing else.

Earlier that day he'd discovered the closest piano lessons to his house was within walking distance, it would be a waste not to at least check it out. If his hunch was right, then this would be the very same place the woman worked at. His only problem now would be actually gathering the information without coming across as suspicious.

When he walked into the small building he approached the counter, there was a woman standing behind a desk talking conspiringly with a customer. Oreki almost felt like he was intruding on a personal moment, he didn't let his face show his discomfort, he just took a seat and waited for them to finish whatever business they had.

The wait was short, unsurprisingly, since he interrupted whatever else they probably would have exchanged had he not shown up. Upon watching the customer move into the back where the practice rooms were, he made his way up to desk. The woman working seemed to be in her early thirties, she looked like she felt younger than she actually was though and the first thing Oreki thought when she spoke was that he'd have no trouble getting information out of her. She was a gossiper, he was sure, if the absolutely scandalized look on her face were any indication.

"Is it always this empty here?" he asked, figuring this was the best way to prod for information. Hana, if her name tag was anything to go by, was almost eager to tell him anything he wanted to know.

"Oh, no, not usually!" She waved her hand as if brushing away the notion, "A lot of sessions got cancelled today, so it's been pretty quiet… and boring." The last bit was mumbled under her breath. Clearly indicating her distaste for the rather mundane portion of her job.

Oreki could tell from the lilt of her voice she wanted him to continue his not so subtle questioning, "Cancelled why?" He asked, amusing her. He knew why, of course, but one couldn't simply start a conversation with 'tell me about the dead woman who worked here'. Tact was something Oreki had and he was going to use that talent to its fullest.

Hana leaned in, dark hair dangling just above the counter, "That's the interesting thing," she was nearly whispering. Probably for effect, but Oreki tilted his head closer, showing his interest, "She was murder." He let his brows knit together after she uttered the words forebodingly. If anything the expression probably passed as confusion to Hana, who was hoping for a better reaction if her put off face was anything to go by.

Oreki had known that the police, despite not meaning to, would take him seriously. He already presumed that they would come to this establishment and have questioned the other employees. He wondered idly if Hana had already been questioned and if so, what disparities would come with his own inquisition.

"Murdered?" Hana nodded her head with wide eyes at his question.

"Last night and from what I've heard, the police have no clue who's done it." She seemed more like she was interested in the mystery than anything else. Decidedly innocent and less helpful in regards to his death investigation.

"You mean you don't know who could have done it? Or wanted to have?" He asked her, knowing that, if anything, she'd enjoy the shameless curiosity.

Hana looked frustrated as she shook her head, "Fukuda-san wasn't anyone's enemy if that's what you're asking. She was kind of dull, didn't really have a lot of friends but people liked her all the same." Hana tapped a delicate finger in thought and then shrugged failing to find anything that would lead to her colleague's demise.

Oreki wasn't deterred from this lack of information, it just meant that whatever the motive was, it wasn't born from coworker related issues. However, he did have a name now and that was more than he could've asked for. He bid Hana farewell, grabbing a proffered information pamphlet on the way out.

His walk home took longer than it would have with his avoidance of any shortcuts, he was unwilling to tempt fate at the moment. It wasn't unfamiliar ambling down the sidewalk, just something he hadn't done since he'd realized there we're quicker ways to get where he was going. The streets were somewhat empty to what he was used to, it was getting later and most people were probably inside having dinner. Oreki realized that dinner was indeed something he should also be partaking in and, with that admittance, he wound his way into one of the smaller, cheaper restaurants.

He paid little attention to the food he was eating and fixated more so on the pamphlet he'd gotten earlier, the name Fukuda Shoko, listed under the instructors, sticking out in particular. Oreki had half a mind to smile, Fukuda Shoko was his next lead and he was willing to bet this one would be much more informative.

* * *

The next day, Oreki hadn't bothered with showing up to the Classics Club, nor had felt the need to share his whereabouts with his friends. Perhaps they'd grown complacent with his near perfect attendance thus far and hadn't even held the notion he'd skip out on them. Either way, he was too curious (a small cringe at the thought) to waste time on anything else. It was an unusually compelling case, whether it be from his sudden and intimate involvement or something else, he was undoubtedly determined to quell this insatiable interest.

That being said, when he got home the night before he looked up Fukuda Shoko and found her address with ease, it was now his next destination. One which he easily discovered having been en route to his own home. It was a short walk and he found himself staring up at an average looking apartment complex.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed ^_^ it truly inspires me! Anyways, here's the next chapter; for those of you awaiting the other club members involvement, don't worry, it'll come. I have ideas stewing, you see.


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